Mind MGMT #2

Published on July 4, 2012, by Emmanuel Malchiodi - Posted in Comic Books0

9Overall Score

Story:8/10

Artwork:10/10

Creativeness:8/10

Great story & artwork.

A little ambiguous.

As part of Dark Horse’s Originals series, Mind Mgmt is a new series by Matt Kindt (Super Spy, Revolver) about a covert government group using a variety of mental powers. Like the CIA, Mind Mgmt deals in subterfuge and espionage, kind of like what Jon Ronson discusses in The Men Who Stare at Goats, where the focus is on extraordinary mental abilities over brute force. With a dreamy visual style and mysterious story, Kindt’s work is intriguing and intelligent, using the idea of super powers in a unique way.

The first issue of Mind Mgmt introduces Meru, a struggling writer investigating a group of commercial airline passengers all suffering from amnesia. Searching for a mysterious passenger named Henry Lyme (reminding me of Harry Lime from The Third Man), Meru finds herself in Mexico. There she finds a CIA agent and a group called The Immortals, whose only weakness is a bullet in the head. They’re not zombies, as CIA Agent Bill Falls explains, as “zombies are fictitious.” Their status as nearly invulnerable is established but this issue presents even more questions, becoming more mysterious and bizarre. Why are the Immortals chasing Meru?

Unlike the last issue, which focused a good deal on exposition, this issue is filled with action, with Meru being chased through Mexico and eventually learning her next stop is China. Kindt renders the action beautifully, using muted colors to give the series a bizarre and classic feel. The book is even printed on a thick newsprint-like paper, giving it a retro aesthetic. Personally, I like this as most contemporary comics are published on glossy white paper; I miss the old days when comics were less than a dollar and printed on cheap newsprint paper.

Hopefully, Kindt will reveal more about the Immortals, Mind Mgmt, Henry Lyme, and Meru’s connection to all this with next month’s installment as this issue brings more variables into the story without really explaining much. Some new mental super powers are introduced, especially the Perrier twins who tell stories with one twin drawing and the other writing, using their psychic link to work simultaneously. Unfortunately, if the twins are separated their powers short circuit. This is a funny little quirk allowing a look into Kindt’s interesting storytelling abilities.

Thankfully, Dark Horse’s Originals line appears punctually in comic shops and it’s only another month for the next installment of Mind Mgmt.